Cape Coral residents a hit off the field during Red Sox, Twins spring training
Bob Millen and some of the regulars at JetBlue Park often recognize each other. A few miles away at the Lee County Sports Complex, Brian Meyer works behind the scenes before his visibility skyrockets right after the Boys of Summer head north.
They are two of the more prominent Cape Coral residents who help the spring training operations of the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers.
Since many Red Sox fans use the same access point to enter the stadium each year, Millen sees lots of familiar faces in what is his 12th year of checking bags and ushering spectators through the screening device at Gate B. He's also recognized for being a longtime police officer and Little League coach and commissioner in Weston, Massachusetts, before relocating here.
“A kindergarten teacher said ‘Is that Officer Millen?’ last year when she first heard me,” said Millen, who was a pitcher for his high school baseball team.
When he hears a Boston accent, he’ll sometimes “try to guess what town they are from. It’s fun for all of us.”
While Millen has met some Red Sox players and has memorabilia in his Cape home, including signed jerseys and a team bedspread, “Seeing fans that I know is the best feeling I get here. It’s great to work at a venue that makes that happen.”
“I love the off-season, being with my family more. But once January comes, I’m looking forward again to baseball,” says Meyer, who’ll be the manager of the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, affiliated with the Twins’ organization, for his third year and who also assists the Twins by supervising action on several ball fields outside of Hammond Stadium.
If a Twins player isn't in a spring training game yet still needs a workout, Meyer gets the call. “The word will come to me that a player needs some at-bats, for example. I’ll make it happen and then report back on how he did.”
This arrangement was especially helpful during the last two years as spring training teams didn’t use split squads for additional games due to the pandemic.
The reigning Florida State League Manager of the Year is also a liaison between Twins coaches and minor league players. “I help minor leaguers prepare for the ‘big show.’ It can be challenging at times, but highly rewarding.”
Meyer played second base for Otterbein College, in Ohio, from 2000 to 2003, and then became the team’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. The Cleveland native joined the Twins’ organization as a minor league hitting coach in 2020 after 13 years as an assistant coach or director of baseball operations for three other universities, tutoring 17 Major League Baseball picks and three All-Americans during that period.
His son, Walker, 4, is following in his basepath. “He’s a fixture at Mussels games [at Hammond Stadium]. He’s really into it!”
For spring training game schedules and ticket info: redsox.com and twins.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Spring training: Cape Coral residents behind the scenes for Sox, Twins
